Considering Working in Content Creation? Don’t

If you’ve been thinking about starting an online writing operation on a freelance basis, consider the facts first. The going rate for skilled US writing among webmasters online is between 1-3 cents a word (typically topping out at 2). This means that a two-hundred word article will earn you four bucks. While this may seem reasonable, you have to consider your situation. If you get contracted to write ten, two-hundred word articles, you’re looking at forty dollars. Depending on how fast you type, you may technically be able to write four of these kinds of assignments a day. If you’re like me, after two you’ve grown so weary of writing unique articles on a list of topics that are all very closely related. After saying virtually the same thing in two-hundred words for ten straight articles, your brain begins to fizzle. You get frustrated, you get distracted and you get disenchanted with writing unless you balance your assignments and ensure that you’re writing things you enjoy. At the rate of two assignments like the one described, you’ll be making eighty a day for a few hours of intense work. Figure, that’s full-time working a ten dollar an hour position in retail or administration: not a bad day of work but it certainly isn’t going to get you rich.

If you’re interested in actually making money online, you’ll have to write for yourself as well as publish and market your own material. If you can’t write an e-book, get someone to write it for you. If you can’t market a virtual product online, contact a web design and marketing company. If you write your own material and you want to earn what you’re worth, the only way is to break into a niche and market to extremely targeted traffic.

An e-book that sells a meager few hundred copies online for a matter of a few dollars may only bring in around $1,000 before losing its steam. Luckily, once your site is up it becomes a residual source of income. Not so luckily though, once the pool of intial sales runs dry, you’ll be looking at mere drops on a monthly basis of income associated with your endeavor. All in all, it’s obvious why writing has taken a dump lately as a profession: anyone can do it.

There are freelancers from India who will LITERALLY undercut US labor in the field of US native writing by posing as US residents while charging lower rates than most US writers hoping that the decrease in price will be sufficient enough for a webmaster buying their services to overlook their awkward phrasing and grammatical mistakes. When you’re setting up shop as a writer, you’ll be in constant competition with these scammers who will take contracts from people that you may have been able to secure at twice or even three times the price that the foreigner will accept. Since webmasters know that they can get cheap labor, they jump on it and then expect cheaper general labor from skilled professionals. While 1 penny a word is a pretty sad beginners’ income in the field of freelance writing, the foreign labor will contract out at .5, .6 or .7 cents a word simply to secure contracts.

If you’re a natural at writing and you love the art of language, there is no more fulfilling job than being a freelance writer. You get to take assignments that you like, you can fire your employers if they give you trouble and you’ll be getting paid for doing something that you’re good at. If you’re simply writing for the money or the fame – forget freelance writing ever existed. Few freelancers ever get themselves to the point of fortune or recognition. While it is a thankless job being a writer can be extremely good for someone who likes to see their work get published and who doesn’t like the usual 9 – 5 grind, consider your options in writing: you may be pleasantly surprised.

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